If the bill passes the Oregon Senate the only thing stopping it from becoming law is a veto by Oregon Governor Kitzhaber.

Please continue to call Governor Kitzhaber and let him know America supports Oregon’s fledging wolf population and does not want them slaughtered on the altar of the sacred cow.

As I’ve stated over and over, 51,000 Oregon cattle were lost to non-predation causes in 2010, including disease, weather, calving and theft. Compare those numbers against the 20 cow deaths blamed on the Imnaha pack and you can see the hysteria driving the persecution of Oregon’s wolves. Anyone who possesses the power of reason knows that in a state with a million cows, 20 cattle deaths blamed on wolves would not even register as any kind of threat. Why are Oregon ranchers so silent about the thousands and thousands of cattle losses to non-wolf causes? I’ll tell you why, it doesn’t fit into their wolf demonization campaign.

The Imnaha pack is the iconic Journey’s (OR7) natal pack. They want to kill his father and sibling. This would effectively destroy the Imnaha pack and leave the alpha female, Sophie (B-300) and her offspring, as the only surviving members.

Conservationists believe the bill is a response to the Oregon Court of Appeals stay of the kill order issued against the Imnaha alpha male and sub-adult.

This bill is reminiscent of the infamous wolf delisting rider, attached to a spending bill last year, which ultimately passed the US Senate and was signed into law by President Obama, stripping ESA protections from wolves in the Northern Rockies. Due to that betrayal of wolves by the Democrats, the anti-wolf forces have learned they can circumvent the court system by turning to friendly pro-ranching state legislatures to get what they want. If the courts don’t rule in their favor, as in the case of the Oregon Court of Appeals stay, then they’ll just take their case to politicians to get it done. When wolves were delisted by budget rider last year, I knew it would open the flood gates to do an end-round the court system. Now any endangered species can be delisted if they become inconvenient to special interests.

Please act now for Oregon wolves.

Continue to sign the petition to the Governor!!

===

The Governor of OR: SAVE OREGON’S 29 WOLVES, oppose HB 4158

Petition Letter

Greetings,

We, the undersigned, urge you to oppose HB 4158, a bill proposed by the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, which allows killing of wolves to address livestock depredation and declares a “state of emergency.” With less than 30 wolves in the entire state, we find this declaration absurd. We, and most Oregonians, highly value our wildlife and strongly support endangered species protection and the return of wolves to Oregon, and their strong recovery.

Oregon has less than 30 confirmed wolves in the entire state and approximately 1.3 million cows. We feel that a Bill establishing a “state of emergency” over the presence of a tentatively recovering endangered wolf population is an attempt to bypass the Oregon Endangered Species Act and would set a dangerous precedent which could be used to circumvent protections of other endangered species at the behest of special interests. Furthermore, we believe it is an effort to short-circuit current litigation which aims to clarify the relationship of the state Endangered Species Act with the Oregon Wolf Plan.

Statements by Oregon Cattlemen’s Association members and officers constantly stress the aim of lethal removal over the use of non-lethal measures and tools, which they routinely disparage. As quoted in the Lewiston Tribune Online, 7/2/11, OCA Wolf committee Chair Rod Childers said, “To be able to move to lethal control we as producers have to show we tried nonlethal actions. I can’t say if it works or not, it is just things we have been told we have to do, and the whole key to me is getting them to move to lethal control,…” With this in mind, we believe HB 4158 to be an attempt to weaken the commitment to non-lethal measures.

With so many critical issues before this short session of the legislature, devoting precious time to this controversial and unnecessary Bill is a mistake.

Alpha male of the Imnaha pack. He was slated for death until the Oregon Court of Appeals stayed the “kill order”. If this bill passes the Senate and is signed into law by Governor Kitzhaber, this wolf will be killed. He is OR7’s father.

We need to give up on the “culture card,” the idea that because something has traditionally been done (bullfighting, hunting, rodeo), it should be allowed. Cruelty should not be sanctioned even if some people find it “entertaining” or “fun.” Put away the guns, the bows, and the traps and engage in something that doesn’t cause pain and death.

This blog is dedicated to the memory of Wolf 253, the beloved Yellowstone Druid wolf named Limpy, who was shot and killed in March 08, on the very day ESA protections were lifted for the gray wolf, by the then Bush Administration.